The Indiana Hoosiers are the last undefeated team in college football and will move into the top spot in the College Football Playoff with their 13-10 victory over Ohio State in last night’s Big Ten Championship Game. Anyone waiting for Indiana’s dream season to end will have to wait a little longer.
Winning a conference title may not mean as much as it did before the playoffs, but try telling that to anyone associated with this team, which has only two conference titles in its entire history, the most recent coming in 1967. And 13-10 may not be the score anyone wants to see in a game between the two best teams in the country, but try telling that to Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who won the game with the pitch of the season and subsequently yielded an all-time record. great post-match interview.
After Ohio State missed a short game-tying field goal with 2:48 left, the Hoosiers needed only a first down for all but guaranteed themselves the Big Ten title. Two straight plays forced Ohio State into its final two timeouts, at which point Indiana was faced with a third-and-6 with 2:41 left. So what have the Hoosiers cooked up? Screen pass? A lousy game? Yeah it’s true! They put the ball in the hands of their Heisman candidate quarterback and let him throw it.
Mendoza threw a perfect ball to Charlie Becker on the sideline, gaining 33 yards and virtually ending the game. Two more scores and a punt later, and all that was left was for Ohio State to throw a few weak deep balls from its own 10-yard line. It wasn’t until the end of the match that we were treated to the real highlight of the evening: Mendoza’s post-match interview.
It’s not often we see a football season culminate with a quarterback possessed by the spirit of Matt Foley. I can’t wait to see if he hits a coffee table at the Heisman ceremony.
